Survivor: Game Changers is finally here and it brings with it a cast of familiar faces: most noteable for me are Tony, one of the most entertaining players of all time, Michaela, one of the sassiest players of all time and JT, one of my favorite all-around players of all time. The season is kicked off by immediate game play, strategy and nautical themed physical challenges as players try to figure out how to stand out in a cast full of stand-outs.

On the Nuku tribe (Cirie Fields, James “J.T.” Thomas Jr., Andrea Boehlke, Brad Culpepper, Sierra Dawn Thomas, Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth, Debbie Wanner, Tai Trang, Sarah Lacina, Zeke Smith), Ozzy and Cirie’s history was briefly explored after Ozzy made the bold comment that the only one he’s afraid of is Cirie, ignoring the obvious threats of JT and Culpepper, two very established players on his tribe. Cirie and Ozzy’s eight-year-old wounds have yet to heal; on their own season, Cirie’s dominating all women’s alliance blindsided Ozzy, who is still bitter about it. While Cirie and Ozzy mutually came to the agreement to let bygones be bygones, Tai further solidified his idiocy in my mind by running off to tell Cirie that he didn’t think Ozzy had forgiven her at all, thus ruining the potential relationship he could’ve had with JT and Ozzy, who paired up quickly and let Tai in on their discussions. JT and Ozzy’s friendship/alliance is bad news for everyone, particularly Cirie, as the two boys proved themselves to still be amazing competitors. Cirie and Ozzy’s tricky relationship becomes the center of the Nuku drama, while on the other tribe the focus is mainly on Sandra and Tony.

As for the Mana tribe (Michaela Bradshaw, Malcolm Freberg, Hali Ford, Jeff Varner, Troy “Troyzan” Robertson, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Caleb Reynolds, Ciera Eastin, Aubry Bracco, Tony Vlachos), half of their scenes at least are devoted to shaky camera shots of Tony running around in the forest. Although Sandra began to form an alliance with Tony early on, she eventually decided that his “I’m the king” attitude was unbearable. “You’re only a king until the queen arrives,” Sandra said. “I’m here.” Sandra scurried to make a new alliance to get Tony out of the game; according to Varner, “Sandra put together an alliance of five in 15 minutes.” Malcolm reluctantly agrees to work with Tony, who he says is a liar that he will most likely end up leaving in the dust, and Caleb joins forces with them to create an alliance of three strong competitors. Caleb shows a bit of surprising strategic prowess with his comment of “playing with Tony is dangerous, but we’ve got to keep the tribe strong.”

Rumors of Tony digging through the sand for an idol spread like wildfire throughout the camp, and this plus Sandra’s master manipulative skills sent Tony packing just a few days after Ciera’s torch was snuffed. Ciera’s vote-out was a quiet one that I don’t think too many people were upset about; she started playing too hard too fast and it rubbed her tribe the wrong way. Tony’s eviction, however, sent ripples of grief throughout the Survivor community as we watched one of the most entertaining players in Survivor history get voted out too early.

 
Winner prediction: Cirie

Next week vote-out prediction: Michaela